Letter to the editor: Hear from the unhoused at 6 p.m. Monday; don’t let city clear the Benchlands

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To the editor:

The City of Santa Cruz wants to clear the Benchlands and says it will relocate residents to shelters. But the shelters are already filled to capacity. Unless city officials magically find at least 300 more shelter spaces, the people now living in San Lorenzo Park will be forced to sleep in the doorways, roadsides and woods of our community when officials clear out the park.

Evictions are on the increase and hundreds of people are sure to be forced into homelessness this winter. Food Not Bombs is seeing a steady increase in those who join us at the Town Clock every day and the number of people moving to the Benchlands grows by the week.

Please join us at the Santa Cruz Homeless Union meeting on Monday, Aug. 15, at 6 p.m. and hear what the people of the Benchlands have to say. We will meet at the Resource Center For Nonviolence, 612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, across from the Hotel Paradox.

For more information please call the Santa Cruz Homeless Union at 800-884-1136

Keith McHenry
Santa Cruz